Research Skills: Concepts and Goals for the Penn Undergraduate Student.

In 2001 the Penn Libraries developed and disseminated a document headed "Research Skills: Concepts and Goals for the Penn Undergraduate Student." [PDF] This document summarizes the basic skills necessary for students to engage in research successfully as undergraduates as well as beyond their four years at Penn (document supplied by email). The document was vetted by librarians campus-wide and provides the underpinning of our undergraduate instruction program.

Goals / Assessment:

NA

Penn Engineering Information and Communication (EIC) Program.

The Penn Engineering Library is a founding partner of the Penn Engineering Information and Communication (EIC) Program [PDF]. This curriculum-integrated program addresses core research skills in communication and information literacy within the undergraduate engineering curriculum. These skills have been recognized as essential by the ABET Accreditation Board, which stipulates that accredited engineering programs must demonstrate that their graduates have attained the ability to communicate effectively and engage in life-long learning as part of modern engineering practice. When fully implemented, the EIC will provide instruction and support to three required classes in each of the six engineering departments; one in the freshman year, one in the sophomore or junior year, and the capstone senior design course. In this way, students receive targeted instruction to ensure that they develop these critical skills as they progress through their respective disciplines. The program employs different modalities to deliver instruction. We have piloted an online introduction to basic resources, tools and competencies with bioengineering and undeclared major freshmen. This introduction was delivered via nine interactive video tutorials, with associated quizzes to assess mastery of the material, By the end of this academic year, course-integrated instruction developed in close collaboration with faculty will have reached 13 classes and close to 1,000 students. These interactions typically consist of an in-class presentation, course guide, and assignment. The assignments range from brief search exercises to look up materials properties for a lab report, to research reflections utilizing a class wiki, to detailed annotated bibliographies as part of the senior design project proposal. Wherever feasible, the information and communication components are coordinated and higher-level skills such as critical thinking and evaluation are required.
http://www.seas.upenn.edu/~eic/information_literacy.html
Senior Design Evaluation Rubric [PDF]

Goals:

• Senior Design Information Literacy Skills (still under development).

• Provide undergraduate students with the tools and resources needed to understand the organization of information, understand and assess research topics, identify and evaluate resources, and effectively communicate the results of research.

• Freshmen will be able to use the major Penn Libraries finding tools (Franklin, FindIt) to locate print and electronic materials.

Assessment:

We have not made a comprehensive effort to assess progress, but have instead assessed individual classes through surveys and pre- and post-tests. We are exploring the possibility of conducting a more widespread effort next academic year, working with a group of incoming freshmen and tracking them through their four years on campus.

Extensive Web-based tutorials.

We have developed tutorials and instructional resource materials to assist faculty and graduate students in developing WebCT course sites and in readying graduate students for pedagogical assignments.
http://gethelp.library.upenn.edu/PORT/

Goals / Assessment:

NA

PennTags provide smart organization of resources.

PennTags is a social bookmarking tool for locating, organizing, and sharing online resources. Members of the Penn community can collect and maintain links to pages on the open web, journal articles, records in Franklin, our online catalog and VCat, our online video catalog. Once these resources are compiled, patrons can organize them by assigning tags (free-text keywords) and/or by grouping them into synthetic groups called projects.
http://tags.library.upenn.edu/help/

Goals / Assessment:

NA